The instruments to which the claimed invention is addressed offer many novel features that improve a surgeon's ability to place multiple suture bites for running sutures during minimally invasive surgery. This new enhancement addresses an infrequent, but significant problem of suture jamming between a ferrule and the ferrule holder, which was noted after introduction of this product for actual use in the operating room.
During device rearming (i.e., re-insertion of the ferrule into its compartment after passing through a section of tissue), on occasion surgeons were not always properly orienting the suture relative to the device tip. This improper suture orientation can cause the suture to be positioned in the ferrule compartment in a way that causes irreversible jamming of the suture and ferrule within the ferrule compartment. To overcome the problem of suture jamming in the ferrule compartment in the distal tip during rearming, this novel enhancement provides adequate clearance spaces around the ferrule to receive an improperly oriented suture, while still precisely holding the ferrule in its targeted location.